Biblion Bible Commentary
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Too Long Among Those Who Hate Peace
Psalms 120:1-7
1 A Song of Ascents. In my distress, I cried to Yahweh. He answered me. · WEB
The pilgrim songs begin a long way from home, with a man sick of living among people who want a fight.
A Song of Ascents Psalms 120:1.
Fifteen psalms carry this heading, and they were sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for the festivals. They are short, portable, and arranged as a journey — and it is worth noticing where the journey starts.
Deliver my soul, Yahweh, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue Psalms 120:2.
Not from an army or a famine. The first step of the pilgrimage is taken by a man worn down by what people say.
What will be given to you, and what will be done more to you, you deceitful tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper Psalms 120:3–4.
The tongue is addressed directly and sentenced. Broom-wood coals burn hotter and longer than any other fuel in that country — the punishment fits a weapon that goes on doing damage after it is used.
Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! Psalms 120:5.
Meshech is far to the north and Kedar is in the Arabian desert to the south. Nobody lives in both. The pairing is a way of saying he is surrounded on every side by foreigners, and possibly that he feels like one at home.
My soul has had her dwelling too long with him who hates peace Psalms 120:6.
Too long is the pilgrim's reason for setting out.
I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war Psalms 120:7.
The last verse is the whole situation in a line. He speaks peace and the speaking itself provokes them, which is a specific and exhausting kind of isolation. The road to Jerusalem begins here, among people who take an offer of peace as an opening move.
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